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Introduction
Year Zero
Norman England
Angevin England
Contents
As it was in the time of King Edward
Dark but golden ages
1066 may be England's event horizon but it was far from the Big Bang. Why did it attract a plague of conquerors? It was not just gold the glittered, but there was plenty of that too.
In the beginning…
1066 and none of that
The most famous year in English history, as it has been ever since. Endings and beginnings; it is still the great divide. If all things did not change, most things did not stay the same.
End of the line
When too many rights go wrong
To have one successor is usual, to have two is careless. Edward the Confessor managed to promise the crown to three people. Two of them became king. Harold was first, but William was there at the end.
Harold Godwineson
The man who was king
Harold Godwineson ran England and had the chance to rule it. A king he very much was. He came within an evening of so much more.
Hastings
The difference a day makes
It was all or nothing for William. As it turned out, it was all or nothing for Harold as well.
Enemies foreign and domestic
What the English wanted all along?
Was King Harold left high and dry by his own side?